PARADISE ISLAND, THE BAHAMAS (November 22, 2017) – The Northern Iowa Panthers found themselves in sort of a never-never land during the second half of their Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis opener against SMU.
UNI never trailed in the half, but they never could put SMU away either. As a result, the Panthers had to claw until the final seconds before emerging with a 61-58 victory.
The Panthers (4-1) took the lead for good midway through the first half, and initially it appeared that they would be able to pull away for an easy win. UNI ripped off 16 unanswered points to build a 26-14 lead, and still maintained a 12-point advantage at 38-26 three minutes into the second half.
But SMU (4-1) kept hanging around. The Mustangs closed the gap to 38-33. UNI got the margin back up to nine. SMU pulled to within three at 46-43. The Panthers stretched back out to an eight-point lead. The Mustangs got it down to a single point at 53-52. UNI responded by scoring six straight.
The Panthers finally secured the victory on two free throws by Bennett Koch with 11 seconds left, giving them a 61-56 lead.
“I’m really proud of the guys for battling in that second half,” UNI coach Ben Jacobson said. “The guys played great for the middle 25 minutes or so there, and then SMU had the momentum. We had played well enough to be in a good position to win, and our guys fought back. For this early in the year, I’m really proud of the guys for fighting and getting themselves to the semifinals tomorrow.”
It was a balanced performance by the Panthers, with four players scoring between 15 and 10 points each, and three players grabbing either eight or nine rebounds. Spencer Haldeman was the team’s top scored with 15 points, while Tywhon Pickford added 11 points and nine boards.
“We have a very unselfish team, a very skilled team, a very good passing team,” Jacobson said. “I like the mix of our guys offensively, there’s no question.”
SMU junior guard Shake Milton made only 5-of-19 shots – 1-for-7 from 3-point range – and finished with 14 points, six below his season average. Jarrey Foster picked up some of the slack by scoring a game-high 19 points on 8-of-14 shooting, but the rest of the team was 10-for-26 from the field.
Thursday’s second-round action in Battle 4 Atlantis begins at 12:30 p.m. ET with Villanova taking on Tennessee, followed at 3 p.m. by Northern Iowa vs. North Carolina State. Then in the evening session, Purdue will meet Western Kentucky at 7 p.m., and Arizona will face SMU at 9:30 p.m.
